Flexible troughing roller assembly for a belt conveyor



1960 M. A. GLEESON 2,966,255

FLEXIBLE TROUGHING ROLLER ASSEMBLY FOR A BELT CONVEYOR Filed Dec. 3, 1956 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 IJL i 4 INVENTOR,

Murray eleeson Fig 3 Dec. 2 7, 1960 M. A. GLEESON 2,966,255

FLEXIBLE TROUGHING ROLLER ASSEMBLY FOR A BELT CONVEYOR Filed Dec. 3, 1956 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 IN V EN TOR.

Murray. A. Gleeson United States Patent G FLEXIBLE TROUGHING ROLLER ASSEMBLY FOR A BELT CONVEYOR Murray A. Gleeson, Downers Grove, 11]., assignor to Goodman Manufacturing Company, Chicago, BL, a corporation of Illinois Filed Dec. 3, 1956, Ser. No. 625,879

6 Claims. (Cl. 198-192) This invention relates generally to conveyors, particularly to belt conveyors, and specifically to an improved flexible troughing roller assembly for the conveying reach of a belt conveyor.

Among the objects of this invention is the provision of a troughing roller assembly having great strength, combined with flexibility and light weight, and which can readily be assembled and disassembled by the user for maintenance or repair.

This invention is concerned primarily with an improvement over the structural arrangement of the belt aligning troughing roller assembly disclosed in LoPresti application Serial No. 523,454, filed July 21, 1955 on Troughing Rollers for Belt Conveyors, now abandoned. The present invention employs the same general principles as the LoPresti assembly, in maintaining belt alignment, yet in some respects is simpler and more rugged in construction.

Other objects and advantages will be apparent from the following description, taken in consideration with the drawings in which:

Figure 1 is a fragmentary, partly cross sectioned view, of the conveying reach of a rope side frame conveyor having the preferred embodiment of a troughing roller assembly employing the principles of the present invention;

Fig. 2 is a fragmentary enlarged view of Fig. 1 taken along the line 22;

Fig. 3 is a sectional View of Fig. 2 taken along line 3-3;

Fig. 4 is an enlarged fragmentary cross sectional view of the troughing roller assembly shown in Fig. 1 and illustrating the details of the interconnection between adjacent rollers; and

Fig. 5 is an enlarged view illustrating the details of the spacer used in the troughing assembly.

Like parts are referred to by like reference characters throughout the figures of the drawings.

Referring now particularly to the embodiment shown in the drawings, the improved troughing roller assembly is generally designated 21 and is shown suspended between a pair of flexible strands, such as wire cables 22, 22, such a rope side frame conveyor being disclosed in Craggs and McCann Patent No. 2,733,257 dated December 4, 1956, to which reference may be made for details. A conveying reach 23 of belting will run along the top of the roller assembly. The return reach will normally pass beneath it in the usual way but is not shown here as it forms no part of the present invention.

The roller assembly 21 comprises a flexible strand or wire rope 24, which is freely universally transversely flexible relative to its longitudinal axis, and is provided with a sleeve 26 swaged on each end. Each sleeve 26 is fastened to a cable clamp or connector 27 which in turn is held in place by a drift pin or spike 28. Strung or threaded on the rope 24 are a series of rollers 28, 29, 31, which are longitudinally spaced along the rope 24 by spacers 32, 32 which enable universal transverse flexing movement of the wire rope 24 at each spacer. Other spacers 33, 33, between the end rollers 28, 31 of the series and the corresponding clamps 27 likewise enable universal transverse flexing movement of the wire rope 24 at their locations.

In practicing the present invention, any number of rollers from one on up may be employed. For the best results, in order to obtain a maximum of beneficial self-training action of the roller assembly on the belt reach 23, there should preferably be at least three rollers, as shown in the drawings.

It will be observed that, in the present case, the swaged-on sleeves 26, 26 are each somewhat greater in diameter than the rope 24 itself. Each sleeve has a reduced diameter section 34, threaded at 36, and has an outwardly facing shoulder at 37. There is a tubular member 38 concentrically disposed with respect to the sleeve 26. It is here shown as a separate piece but may if desired be made integral with the clamp 27 (as by welding, shown in broken lines at Hi1) or with one of the sleeves 26, (as by welding, shown in broken lines at 102), in which cases it would simply be an inward tubular extension of the clamp or the sleeve, respectively. In either case, it would function as shown, in the manner which will be described.

The cable clamp 27 is preferably formed of a plate bent generally in a U section (as seen in Fig. 1) and having an upper portion 39, a relatively longer lower portion 41 interconnected by a bight 42 having a radius of curvature somewhat less than the cable 22 to facilitate wedging the latter tightly within the clamp. There are two generally vertically aligned punched openings 43, 44'

respectively in the upper and lower portions of the clamp, through which the drift pin 28 is driven to hold the cable 22 tightly in place. The inwardly extending lower portion 41 of the clamp is tined upwardly by a punching operation to form two upstanding ears, an inner ear 46 and an outer ear 47 having holes 46a and 47a punched respectively therein. The threaded portion 36 of the sleeve 26 is assembled through a corresponding pair of these holes 46a, 47a and the sleeve is drawn tight by nut 48 and lock washer 49 engaging the outer ear 47 while shoulder 37 bears against the inner ear 46.

Each of the rollers 28, 29, 31 includes a cylindrical steel body shell 51 having an enlarged bell-mounted section 52 at each end within which is seated a ball bearing 53 having an inner race 54, an outer race 56, and balls 57, with a grease retainer 58. A rubber, or grease-resisting rubber-like cover 59 is affixed, preferably by molding, to the outer surface of the shell 51.

Each of the rollers 28, 29, 31 is rotatably journaled about a non-rotatable hollow tubular shaft threaded onto the wire rope 24. There are three of these shafts and they are numbered 28a, 29a and 31a, consistent with the numbering of the rollers. While they are numbered differently, they may be, and are shown, identical. The rollers are held in place against movement along the roller supporting shafts 28a, 29a, 31a, by snap rings 61 fitting within grooves 61:: of the roller sup-porting shafts and bearing against the outer surfaces of the inner races 54.

The troughing rollers are maintained in predetermined spaced relationship with one another and with the connector sleeves 26 by spacers 32 and 33, aforementioned. They are assigned different reference numerals here only because they are located at different places along the wire rope and not because they need to be structurally difier' Actually, they may be, and are shown identical.

out.

here.

Each spacer 32 or 33, shown greatly enlarged in Fig. 5,

is here shown as an elastic spool or rubber or grease resistant rubber-like material having a main body 62 with.

end surfaces 63, 64 and reduced diameter tubular bushsupporting shafts 28a, etc. Thus, when assembled as shown, and'the nuts 48 are drawn uptight, the surfaces- 63, 64*of the spacers will be interposed between the ends of the roller supporting shafts 28a, etc., and the end tubular members 38 surrounding the sleeves'26.

The roller mounting shafts 28a, 29a, 31a and the tubular members 38, 38" may all be the same cross section and are so shown.

For best results, the parts should fit along the wire compression, to hold all the parts snugly in place. For" this purpose, at least one of the spacers should be an elastic member ofsome kind. Obviously, any spacing means which biases the roller supporting shafts 28a, etc., toward their proper positions along the wire rope 24 and which provide transverse flexibility of the wire rope in universal directions at the spacers will be the equivalent of the spacers shown in Fig. and therefore this invention is not to be interpreted as limited merely to the precise type of spacers shown in that figure. To facilitate threading the spacers 32, 33 onto the wire rope 24 over the sleeves 26, they may be oiled or covered with a grease or soap. Alternatively, they can be split, as indicated at 68 in Fig. 3, to avoid the operation of threading them over the sleeves.

To permit threading or stringing the roller supporting shafts 28a, etc., onto the wire rope, the internal diameter of the shafts 28a, etc., must be larger than the external diameter of the sleeves 26. At least saidint'ernal diameters must be larger than the external diameter of' one of the sleeves 26.

The spacers 32, 3-3 serve the following threeimportant functions: (1) they enable-universal transverse flexing of the strand 24 in a lurality of directions atea'ch ofthe spacers, (2) they hold positions of the roller supporting shafts 28a, 29a, 31a relative to one another and relative to the connector sleeves 26, and (3) they maintain concentricity between the rope 24 and the tubular shafts 28a, 29a, 31a, and members 38 and minimize the sharpness of bend of the wire rope within the spacers to give them a long life.

In assembling the improved troughing roller assembly, the rollers 28, 29, 31 and the spacers 32, 33 are threaded or strung alternately onto the rope 24, passing over one of the connector sleeves 26. The roller shells 51 will preferably have been pre-assembled onto the tubular roller, and supporting shafts 28a, 29a, 31a. The assembly is then completedby fastening the clamps 27' on with the nuts 48'andlock washers 49. Dis assembly is simply the reverse of this procedure.

Thus it will be seen that the new troughingroller assembly is readily put together and taken apart for easy maintenance and repair.

Although but one specific embodiment of this invention is herein shown and described, it will be understood that numerous details of the structure shown may be altered or omitted without departing from the spirit of the invention as defined by the following claims.

I claim:

1. A flexible troughing roller assembly for the conveying reach of a belt conveyor comprising: a series of hollow shafts each having a roller rotatably supported thereon; a flexible strand threaded through said shafts; a sleeve fixed to each end of said strand; a connector removably attached to each of said sleeves for suspending said assembly between spaced supports; each of said shafts having a passage with an internal dimension larger than a corresponding external dimension of at least one of said sleeves torenable threading of said shafts onto said strand over said one sleeve; elastic, rubberlike spacers being interposed between adjacent shafts and between each sleeve and the adjacent. shaft at the corresponding. end of said series; said spacers effectively maintaining the positions of the shafts relative to one another and relative to the sleeves on said strand, and enabling transverse flexing of said assembly in all directions at each of said spacers.

2. A flexible troughing roller assembly for the conveying reach of a belt conveyor comprising: a series of hollow shafts'each having a roller rotatably supported thereon; a flexible' strand threaded through said shafts;

a sleeve fixed to each end of said strand; a pair of connectors adapted to engage spaced supports for suspending said assembly therebetween; a disengageable connection between each sleeve and a corresponding one of' said con nectors; each of saidv shafts having a passage with an internal dimension larger than a corresponding external dimension of at least oneof said sleeves to enable threading of said shafts onto said strand over at least said one sleeve; a flexible spacer interposed between adjacent shafts and effectively maintaining the laterspaced apart along said strand; and a flexible spacer interposed between each connector and the adjacent shaft at the corresponding end of said series and effectively maintaining said connector and end shaft spaced apart along said strand;

each of said spacers being universally flexible transverse.

veying reach of a belt conveyor, said troughing'roller:

assembly including, in combination, aseriesof hollow shafts each? havingia roller. rotatably supported thereon, a flexible strand threaded through said shafts, said shafts. being shiftable longitudinally on said strand, a connector at each end-v of said strand for connecting said as? sembly between spaced supports, elastic spacers carried by said strand and compressibly interposed between adjacent ends of said shafts and between each connector and a corresponding endshaft of said series, said spacers maintaining said shafts positioned relative to one another, and spaced radially from the strand to facilitate flexing movement of the assembly relative to said connectors, each of said' elastic spacers being universally flexible transverse to the length of said strand to enable flexing of said assembly in all directions transverse to the length of said strand.

4. The flexible troughing idler assembly. of claim 3 further characterized in that the hollow shafts have a substantially uniform internal diameter from end to end and the spacers between adjacent shafts extend into the ends of the shafts between the flexible strand and the shafts.

5. A flexible troughing roller assembly for a conveying reach of a belt conveyor comprising a series of hollow shafts each having bearing means rotatably supporting a roller thereon; a transversely flexible strand threaded through the hollow shafts; spacer means interposed between the strand and the hollow shafts for effectively spacing each of the hollow shafts generally transversely from the strand, said spacer means enabling said assembly to be universally transversely flexible; and a connector at each end of said strand for connecting said assembly between spaced supports.

6. A flexible troughing roller assembly for a conveying reach of a belt conveyor comprising a series of hollow shafts each having bearingmeans rotatably supporting a roller thereon; a transversely flexible strand threaded through the hollow shafts; spacer means interposed between adjacent hollow shafts and also interposed between the strand and the hollow shafts, said spacer means enabling said assembly to be generally universally transversely flexible; and a connector at each end of said strand for connecting said assembly between spaced supports.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Robins Oct. 5, 1943 Robertson Jan. 15, 1952 Spurgeon Apr. 15, 1952 Stamos July 9, 1957 Pate Aug. 9, 1960 FOREIGN PATENTS Great Britain Feb. 25, 1932 Germany Mar. 23, 1953 France Dec. 5, 1955 

